Prakash Bhuyan

Swadesha Sharma

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Binaifer Bharucha

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“I loved drawing
since I was a child. When I was in ko
shreni [Class
1] in school, the teacher would ask us to draw an orange or a pumpkin, and I
could do it quickly,” says Ramesh Dutta with a smile briefly playing on his
face. “That is how it all began.”

Today he is the
primary set designer and mask maker for theatre activities in Majuli’s Garamur Saru Satra – one
of Assam’s several Vaishnavite monasteries. Ramesh da, as the 52-year-old is fondly addressed in the community, is a man of
few words but many talents that keep local theatre, art and music thriving in
Majuli, the largest island in the Brahmaputra.

“As a child I was
fascinated by puppetry shows,” he recalls. “I used to watch other people make
puppets and picked up the art that way. I must have been in Class 2 around that
time. I would make puppets and show them off in school.”

The
art he makes these days, when not displayed on stage or around Majuli, is
stored in the open shed beside his house. When we visit him we also see an
inverted hand boat inside, propped on a platform. Brushes and cans of paint are
stored next to masks made by Ramesh da. These include a movable mask of
a crane made for the Raas Mahotsav. (Read: <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/the-many-masks-of-majuli/">The many masks of Majuli</a>)

Although today he does not make many masks,
Ramesh da admires the artform and those who practise it like Padma Shri awardee
Hem Chandra Goswami. “His masks can blink and move their lips,” he says. “He has made the art of masks world famous
and popular. He has so many students now.”

During the Raas festival, Dutta undertakes
repair work for masks in addition to working on the set design and stage props
for the performances in the Garamur Saru Satra. He confidently declares, “If
tomorrow were Raas, I could make the sets today itself.” (Read: <a id="22746" linktype="page">Raas Mahotsav and the satras of Majuli</a>)

Dutta also takes part in the various Vaishnav sattriya performances conducted at the satra, such as Gayan-Bayan and Bhaonas. The former is a folk performance made of
singers (gayan) and instrument players (bayan) whereas the latter is a form of
drama. Integral parts of sattriya culture, the performances were
introduced by social reformer and saint Srimanta Sankaradeva in the 15th
century. The gayans and bayans have the responsibility of providing
musical accompaniment to the performances held in the satra.

“I started learning gayan-bayan in 1984 at the
Pitambar Dev Sanskritik Vidyalaya. I was 13 at the time,” he tells us. “I
initially learned both gayan and bayan but then the guru asked me to be a gayan.
So, that’s what I studied.”

The room in which
we sit is dimly lit. The walls are plastered over with sand and cement, painted
green. Behind Ramesh da hangs a landscape.
Anushka, his six-year-old daughter, tells us that all the paintings displayed
on the walls were made by her father.

A portion of the
cowshed at home makes up his studio. We watch him work on a pair of
commissioned sculptures all afternoon – Joy-Bijoy figures for the gates of a namghar [prayer house]. Ramesh da has been making sculptures like these for 20 years. He says it takes him
around 20 days to make one.

“First, I build the
frame using wood. Then a sand and cement mixture is poured into the frame and
left to dry,” he explains as he shapes the torsos of the Joy-Bijoy figures with
a karani [trowel]. “After a
few days, I begin shaping the sculptures. The delicate detailing comes last.”

Certain parts of
the figures, like the limbs, are given shape using casts made with pieces of
banana tree trunks. “I buy the materials to make the murti [sculpture] from local stores,” continues Ramesh da. “We mostly use plastic paints these days. Earlier we would use distemper
paints, but they fade.”

He
steps away from the figures, judging their proportions. Then, making another
batch of the concrete mixture he returns to work. “When he is working, he doesn’t
talk. Doesn’t like to be disturbed at all,” his wife Neeta, who helps him with
his work, tells us with a smile. “When he is engrossed in his work, he has a
mood.”

Dutta is especially
proud of the guru axon [guru’s seat]
he built for the namghar in the Kharjanpar area near Garamur. The axon is a tetrahedral structure placed within the inner sanctum of the prayer
house. “I made the guru axon with concrete and
painted it to look like wood. The Satradhikar [head of the satra] consecrated and inaugurated the axon. Even he mistook it to be made of wood,” he says happily.

He is also busy
building a house for his family. “It’s the rainy season so it is taking longer
to finish,” says Neeta.

Dutta is the eldest
of four siblings and the only one in the family to have taken up art as a
profession – ever since Class 8. “This is my profession. I don’t have
agricultural land,” he says. “When there is no work, we have to depend on our
savings. Life goes on. Sometimes people invite me to do Bhaona [traditional
drama]. They need help and I go.

“Some pay 1,000
rupees and others pay 1,500. Some also offer 300. What can you say? It is rajahua
kaam
[community service]. I quote my rate but people pay as
per their capacity.”

While he is
understanding of such limitations he also adds, “without artha [money] nothing can be done. It takes money to even start working on
something. And at times getting that money becomes difficult.”

One way he
navigates such problems is by renting out his work like a mask of the fish
incarnation of Vishnu – Motsyo – he
made in 2014. “At the time it cost me 400 rupees to buy the materials and
sometimes the 400 also becomes difficult to manage.” In the six years since
then, he has made around Rs. 50,000 by renting it out.

Dutta has no fixed
rate for the kind of work he does. Even if a sculpture is small, the khatoni [physical effort] required is a lot. “Sometimes, the hazira [wages earned for work] is inadequate,” he says.“It is like a game of cards. One has to find
hope in hopelessness.”

This story is supported by a fellowship from Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (MMF).

Portrait of an artist in Majuli

تھیٹر کی دنیا کو روشن کرنے والا ماجولی کا فنکار

மஜூலியின் ஓவியரை பற்றிய ஓவியம்

ਮਾਜੁਲੀ ਦਾ ਇੱਕ ਪ੍ਰਤਿਭਾਸ਼ਾਲੀ ਕਲਾਕਾਰ

ମାଜୁଲିରେ ଜଣେ କଳାକାରଙ୍କ ପ୍ରତିକୃତି

മജൂലിയിലെ ഒരു കലാകാരന്റെ കഥ

ಮಜುಲಿಯ ಕಲಾವಿದರೊಬ್ಬರ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಚಿತ್ರ

जिनकी कला से रौशन है माजुली के रंगमंच की दुनिया

માજુલીના એક કલાકારનું ચિત્ર

जेकर कला के उजियार बगरत हवय माजुली के रंगमंच मं

माजुली के रंगमंच आ कला के दुनिया जिनकरा से गुलजार बा

মাজুলি দ্বীপের এক শিল্পীর কথা

মাজুলীৰ প্ৰতিভাৱান এগৰাকী শিল্পী

Majuli

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Portrait of an artist in Majuli

Ramesh Dutta is a painter, a sculptor, a mask-maker and player of many instruments. His talents are on display in the many theatre activities held on this island in the Brahmaputra river in Assam

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